https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2026/0514/c95952-20456375.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10523-6
A research team led by Pan Jianwei, Lu Chaoyang, Zhang Qiang, and Liu Nailai from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), in collaboration with the Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, Shanxi University, Tsinghua University, the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Laoshan Laboratory, and the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology, has developed the programmable quantum computing prototype “Jiuzhang-4,” featuring 1,024 squeezed-state inputs and 8,176 modes.
The research team achieved the world’s first manipulation and detection of quantum states involving up to 3,050 photons, setting a new world record in photonic quantum information technology. In addition, the system’s computational speed for solving Gaussian Boson Sampling problems surpassed the world’s fastest supercomputer by a factor of 10⁵⁴.
Quantum computers are physical devices that perform high-speed mathematical and logical operations and process quantum information according to the laws of quantum mechanics. They possess massively parallel computational capabilities far beyond those of classical computers. Current mainstream quantum computing approaches include superconducting systems, ion traps, photonic quantum systems, and neutral atoms. The “Jiuzhang” series, as a photonic quantum computing prototype, encodes quantum bits using photons and performs calculations through quantum manipulation and measurement of those photons. Since its debut in 2020, the series has undergone multiple upgrades through “Jiuzhang-2” and “Jiuzhang-3,” achieving “quantum supremacy” and repeatedly breaking world records.
However, as encoding circuits became larger and more complex, unavoidable photon loss emerged as a major obstacle limiting improvements in photonic quantum computing performance. To solve this problem, the research team developed a highly efficient optical parametric oscillator light source and a spatiotemporal hybrid-encoding interferometer. They integrated 1,024 high-efficiency squeezed optical fields into an 8,176-mode circuit using a spatiotemporal hybrid encoding method. As a result, connectivity achieved cubic-scale expansion, enabling the manipulation and detection of up to 3,050 photons. This performance far exceeds the 255-photon capability of Jiuzhang-3.”´
By controlling thousands of photons simultaneously, the computing power increased exponentially. In executing Gaussian Boson Sampling tasks, “Jiuzhang-4” required only 25 microseconds to generate a single sample. By comparison, using today’s most powerful supercomputer together with the best known classical algorithms would require approximately 10⁴² years to perform the same calculation. This means the system achieved a quantum advantage on the order of 10⁵⁴.
